5 Ways Halloween Is John Carpenters Best Movie (& 5 Ways Its The Thing)

5 Ways Halloween Is John Carpenter’s Best Movie (& 5 Ways It’s The Thing)

John Carpenter is known for two films: Halloween and The Thing. But which horror classic is the horror master’s best?

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John Carpenter is one of the biggest names in horror history. Carpenter has an extensive filmography that has proven endlessly fascinating and influential throughout the years. Of course, not every single movie of his is a banger, but then again, which director’s filmography is perfect?

But as extensive as Carpenter’s filmography is, he is primarily known for two movies – Halloween and The Thing. Released just four years apart, both couldn’t have been received any differently: Halloween was a massive success, and The Thing a massive bomb, though it saw second life as one of the best cult classic ever made.

10 HALLOWEEN: The Iconic Music

Halloween is an iconic film for many different reasons, and one of those reasons is the music. Halloween’s score (composed by Carpenter himself) is an iconic piece of cinema music, and it wonderfully captures the eerie tone of the movie. Even to this day, the opening tune is synonymous with the horror genre, and it may very well be the most famous piece of slasher movie music ever composed.

It’s certainly more memorable than The Thing’s Razzie-nominated score from the otherwise spectacular Ennio Morricone though like the movie as well, the score has since been vindicated by time. Proof of this was the fact that one of its unused tracks was used for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, which Morricone won an Oscar for scoring.

9 THE THING: The Stellar Visual Effects

When it comes to practical visual effects, it really doesn’t get better than The Thing. The gore, the practical effects, the disgusting creature animatronics — all are spectacular, and all are genuinely revolting.

Now, this is a somewhat unfair comparison, as Halloween contains little to no visual effects to speak of. But that may prove problematic for some modern, more bloodthirsty viewers. Halloween is perhaps the most popular slasher movie ever made, yet it has zero blood or gore to speak of. But even if it did, it simply wouldn’t compete with The Thing.

8 HALLOWEEN: Everything About Michael Myers

Halloween has one major thing that The Thing doesn’t have, and that is Michael Myers. Even people who don’t watch (or like) scary movies know who Michael Myers is. Like the music, his name is synonymous with the slasher genre in general.

His imposing physical appearance, silent demeanor, unending pursuit of the heroes, and his seeming inability to die helped influence countless slashers to follow, most notably the equally intimidating Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th. No character (human or otherwise) in The Thing can even hope to compare with Michael Myers.

7 THE THING: Everything About The Arctic Setting

Both movies’ settings are unique and memorable. Halloween takes the slasher genre to the Americana suburbs, serving as a thrilling and horrifying allegory for everyday evil. But The Thing takes place in the barren, freezing, and dark tundra of Antarctica, and it proves more unique and enjoyable than the suburbs.

The Thing successfully mines all that it can from its interesting setting, and in many ways, it becomes its own character within the movie. It certainly makes for a more visually appealing film than Halloween.

6 HALLOWEEN: It Has The Stronger Cast

The Thing has Kurt Russell, but Halloween has a stronger overall cast. Despite being an unknown at the time, Jamie Lee Curtis has since blossomed into one of the most popular and in-demand actresses in Hollywood. Not only is she the Scream Queen, but she’s a genuine movie star.

Halloween also has the endlessly enjoyable and utterly magnetic Donald Pleasance, whose Dr. Sam Loomis has become an icon of the horror genre alongside his personal nemesis.

5 THE THING: Its Filmmaking Is More Professional

Halloween was made for a measly $300,000, while The Thing was made for $15 million. The massive budget difference is apparent. Now, higher budgets don’t always correlate with quality. Many fantastic films have been made on miniscule budgets – Halloween included.

But in this particular case, the increased budget helped make The Thing a far more visually compelling and ambitious film. Beside it, Halloween looks like an amateur student production — which it essentially was. To be fair, Halloween was one hell of a film from a then amateur Carpenter but by the time of The Thing, his novice’s faults and ticks were gone.

4 HALLOWEEN: It Has Better Writing

By now, it should be obvious that bigger budgets can’t do anything about the writing. Well, unless it buys a better writer. Carpenter’s script for Halloween is more compelling than Bill Lancaster’s, with particular praise going to Carpenter’s dialogue.

The man certainly knows how to write a compelling and horrifying speech, as evident by Loomis’s many iconic monologues and diatribes throughout the movie. Halloween contains many classic and instantly-identifiable lines, whereas even the most die hard fans of The Thing may find difficulty thinking of a single famous quote that isn’t a punchline or a one-liner.

3 THE THING: It’s Arguably More Disturbing

Both movies approach horror in different ways. Halloween takes a quieter approach, favoring tense build-up and “Did I just see that?” scares over outright violence and gore. The Thing combines paranoia with a helpless atmosphere and disgusting creature-based gore.

Which approach is scarier is obviously dependent on the personal feelings of the viewer, but The Thing’s gore makes it more disturbing and unforgettable. Literally, who can forget that guy’s head melting off his body and turning into a spider?

2 HALLOWEEN: It Has More Iconic Scenes

The Thing bombards the viewer with horrific gore, but the subtler approach of Halloween has lent itself to more iconic scenes. Scenes that, to this day, are homaged by other aspiring filmmakers.

Cases in point: The opening sequence with Michael killing his sister, Michael’s escape from the mental institution. Michael stalking Laurie throughout town. Michael emerging from the backseat of Annie’s car. Bob’s murder and Michael playing ghost with Lynda. Loomis’s aforementioned speeches. The final confrontation with Laurie and Michael. Michael’s body disappearing. It’s all fantastic stuff, and it all helped make Halloween an undeniable classic.

1 THE THING: It’s More Ambitious

The Thing’s increased budget resulted in an undeniably more ambitious film. Of course, there’s the gore and horrific transformation sequences that puts Halloween and its pitiful penchant for stabbing to shame. But it’s also grander in scale, opening with a helicopter chase through the barren wastes of Antarctica, proceeding to a massive UFO crash site, ending with MacReady facing The Thing and destroying the outpost with dynamite.

There’s also the fact that The Thing threatens the very existence of humanity, not just some teenagers in suburbia. Not to discredit their fictional deaths, of course, but a few dead teens is nothing compared to the complete annihilation of civilization.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/john-carpenter-halloween-the-thing-comparison-best/

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